Hearing for woman accused of stealing from Contoocook shelving company canceled

A plea and sentencing hearing scheduled yesterday for a Hillsboro woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars from a Contoocook shelving company was canceled at the last minute because a negotiated plea could not be reached, said prosecutor Catherine Ruffle.

Theresa Wareing, 51, faces 10 felony counts of swiping checks from the owner of Excalibur Shelving Systems and “converting” them “for her own purposes,” according to indictments filed by a Merrimack County Superior Court grand jury in December. The indictments allege that she stole the first check in November 2011, then took nine more through July 2012.

Each theft was valued at more than $1,000, and all but one exceeded $1,500, according to the indictments.

A trial date in the case is now set for Sept. 17.

Ruffle, the deputy county attorney, would not comment on what was stalling the negotiations, or on other details of the case. Wareing’s attorney, Robin Davis, did not return a call for comment yesterday.

Nine of Wareing’s charges are considered Class B felonies, which carry a maximum prison sentence of one to seven years. The remaining count, a Class A felony, carries a maximum sentence of more than seven years.

Each of the thefts technically meets the requirements for a Class A felony, but under state law, when there are multiple property thefts, the subsequent counts become Class B felonies.

John Herrick, the Excalibur owner, did not return a message left at his office yesterday. A message left yesterday at Wareing’s home was also not returned.

According to court documents, Wareing is married and has a 20-year-old daughter. She has not been incarcerated since the indictment, Ruffle said.

(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)